Riding the tide: Dorcas Teo
From spotting China’s shipbuilding potential before the rest of the market to betting on India’s rise today, Nordic Flow Control CEO Dorcas Teo has built a career on seeing what’s next. Now, she reveals the leadership principles driving her latest chapter of expansion.
For Dorcas Teo, CEO of Nordic Flow Control, a Singapore-based manufacturer of flow automation, monitoring and control systems for ships and offshore platforms, the past five years have been nothing short of transformative.
Following widespread disruption after the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has been able to emerge leaner and more globally connected, thanks in no small part to Teo’s leadership.
"Say what you mean, mean what you say. To me, integrity is very important," she says.
Teo traces Nordic Flow Control’s growth back to its early expansion into China, long before the country became the dominant force in global shipbuilding.
"China wanted to be world number one by 2016," she recalls. "It’s good that we were there much earlier."
Seeing the opportunity in China before many others, Teo was able to embed the company into the ecosystem and quickly understood gaps international competitors were missing.
"We took what we have learned in Singapore and then we went to China to try and understand exactly what their concerns are," she says. "We understand the problem they are facing."
Bouncing back
Adaptability is arguably the driving force behind Teo’s leadership. Back in 2020, when the pandemic began to impact the world, the entire marine industry was deeply disrupted.
From supply chains collapsing to shipyards closing down, difficult decisions needed to be made to ensure survival. However, while Nordic Flow Control moved its Chinese operations to Singapore, it did not abandon the Chinese market entirely.
"When the pandemic was over, we were able to restart our operations very quickly," Teo says.
"Say what you mean, mean what you say. To me, integrity is very important."
The surge of demand when markets opened back up created significant pressure across supply chains, with manufacturers that were capable of delivering quickly holding a clear competitive advantage.
While rivals faced opening up a fragmented mix of factories, Nordic Flow Control was able to capitalize on its flexibility and rebound faster when global demand returned to the shipbuilding market. While demand has since stabilized, Teo says this has put the company in good stead.
Expansion plans
Following on from the disruptions caused by the pandemic, she decided to reexamine many accepted norms in the industry to see if they still held true. When entering new markets, it was typical to use internal sales teams. Yet Teo found that this approach is just too slow for today.
"In the past, you probably wanted to get a salesperson that comes in and then you slowly train them. Because the cycle of business is so short, I don’t think that kind of strategy is good," she explains.
By embracing the use of international partners and agents, the company saw immediate results. In the past year alone, Nordic Flow Control has gained a presence across Europe, as well as boosting its footprint in India.
"Instead of just relying on everything having to be your own sales team, we are now growing through external teams by leveraging our strategic business partners and I find that the multiplication is much faster," she adds.
Action not hierarchy
Just holding the title of CEO is not enough to be a leader, according to Teo.
"If I have asked you all to do something and I don’t know how to it, I don’t have the right to scold you," she explains.
For Teo, credibility is earned through action rather than delegating tasks, with constant self-development a part of being a leader.
"In order for my teams to improve, I need to first improve myself," she says. "You need to do what you preach."
As global shipbuilding demand continues to increase across Asia, in part due to capacity constraints in China, Teo sees the region as central to the future of Nordic Flow Control. India has become a major focus for the company’s next growth phase.
"I think India will be an interesting market. India has the same recipe as China, it’s something like a sleeping tiger in my opinion," she says.
Lasting partnerships
Developing partnerships is a core part of Teo’s work. In highly competitive markets where delivery speed is increasingly important, this kind of trust can become decisive. For Teo, supplier relationships can be compared to the trust built up over years with local vendors.
"I have one agent from Greece who has been with us for about 20 years," she reveals.
"I approach marketing the same way I buy fish and pork on Saturday. I don’t like to change, I like to stick with my regular suppliers."
During times of intense pressure, these one-to-one relationships become major assets.
"You don’t know what day you will need them, but you want to be rooted with them," she explains.
"India has the same recipe as China, it’s something like a sleeping tiger."
Singapore-based VEGA Instruments, a leader in process instrumentation sensors specializing in pressure measurement and level measurement, is one of the suppliers where this business philosophy is put into action. In often highly competitive marine markets, reliability and trust can be deciding factors in winning contracts.
There is no question in Teo’s mind that focusing on long-term credibility is far more important than simply trying to squeeze out one-off gains, with suppliers who trust the company being more likely to prioritize orders when needed and collaborate more effectively under pressure.
When a large order came into Nordic Flow Control, which required a very quick turnaround, this trust was invaluable.
"I’m able to call the supplier because my name is as good as the purchase order," she says.